Lou Gehrig’s July 4th Speech and You

Today is the 70th anniversary of the Lou Gehrig speech. You may have seen it mentioned in the New York Times. Or, if you were at a baseball game today, you may have heard the whole thing – Major League Baseball is honoring this anniversary at 15 games, where the speech will be read during the seventh-inning. What’s so special about a 70-year-old, 270-word retirement speech – and how does it affect your life and health?

Lou Gehrig, the Iron Horse of baseball (playing in 2,130 straight games), retired from the sport and then died, at the young age of 37, two years from diagnosis of the disease that now bears his name – amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Today, Lou Gehrig’s moving farewell speech is being read and re-read nationwide to raise money for this still-incurable, devastating illness.

ALS is a progressive, relentless disease of neuromuscular wasting – nerves that control muscle movement selectively die, leaving the brain and senses intact. Eventually the nerves to muscles that control speech, swallowing, and breathing are destroyed. As the official Lou Gehrig website states, “Approximately 14 cases of ALS are diagnosed each day nationwide. Most of those who develop the disease are between 40 and 70 years of age. The average expected survival time for those suffering from ALS is three to five years. At any given time, approximately 30,000 people in the United States are living with the disease.”

If you are an Eeyore by nature (as opposed to a Tigger), you may be thinking this is all a bunch of hokum – what’s the point? After all, who could be grateful when you’ve got a terminal, incurable, devastating disease?

That, in a nutshell, is the value of hearing, and allowing yourself, 70 years later, to be moved by, the Lou Gehrig July 4th speech. Lou Gehrig’s gratitude is the real deal. He chooses, in front of an audience of 60,000 people, to count and measure the positive value of his life, and his connections to others.

I had the honor of hearing the lovely Jacqueline Winspear, author of the award-winning Maisie Dobbs books, tell a story about a friend who was diagnosed, then died of Lou Gehrig’s disease. Her friend, a woman, said to people, after her diagnosis, “God, I’ve got Lou Gehrig’s disease. What were the chances?” And then, she’d add, with a twinkle in her eye, “I mean, I don’t even like baseball…”

While it is certain that this same woman had moments when she railed, and despaired and suffered, there is a profound benefit in her kind of wit and insight – the human capacity to find moments where we can step outside ourselves, moments of gratitude and even humor. Those benefits extend both to the person, and to those given the privilege of witnessing intentional acts of grace. Sure, rage, even fury, have their place – they are often the catalyst for change. But gratitude also has a place and a potent value. Gratitude, unlike rage, is much less visible, and often not given its due, in our society.

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